G-7 leaders pledge over 1 billion vaccines to poorer nations

Extinction Rebellion environmental activists with masks of G7 leaders protest in the water in St Ives, Cornwall during the G7 summit. Pic/AFP

Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations staked their claim Sunday to leading the world out of the coronavirus pandemic and crisis, pledging more than 1 billion coronavirus vaccine doses to poorer nations, vowing to help developing countries grow while fighting climate change and backing a minimum tax on multinational firms.

Speaking at the end of a G-7 leaders' summit in southwest England, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the ‘fantastic degree of harmony' among the reenergised group, which met in person for the first time in two years.

Johnson, the summit host, announced on Sunday that G-7 leaders had pledged over 1 billion vaccine doses for poorer nations. But despite Johnson's call to "vaccinate the world" by the end of 2022 the promise of 1 billion doses for vaccine-hungry countries coming both directly and through the international COVAX program falls far short of the 11 billion doses the World Health Organization said is needed to vaccinate at least 70% of the world's population and truly end the pandemic. Half of the billion dose pledge comes from the United States and 100 million from Britain.

The leaders also said they will promote their values by calling on China to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of committing serious human rights abuses against the Uyghur minority, and in the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong.

The G-7 also backed a minimum tax of at least 15% on large multinational companies to stop corporations from using tax havens to avoid taxes. All G-7 countries have pledged to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, but many environmentalists say that will be too little, too late.

Naturalist David Attenborough addressed the leaders by video Sunday, warning that humanity is "on the verge of destabilising the entire planet. If that is so, then the decisions we make this decade ‘in particular the decisions made by the most economically advanced nations' are the most important in human history," the veteran documentary filmmaker said.

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